Girls Rule
by marlyp
Summary: My simplified version of what happened after "Girls's Night Out".


-1 Janet smiled as she closed the door behind Eddie. When she turned around it was to the laughing eyes of Hannah and Pizza Girl. Actually, laughing and a little hung over. They were all recovering from a 'Girls Night Out' and in reality, getting rid of Eddie was a small relief. He was way to loud and it was way too early for that much hotness.

"Wow, I thought he would never leave" Pizza Girl exclaimed. "I really need to talk to you guys about something that occurred to me last night."

Hannah and Janet exchanged a small smile. Without even saying it they knew what the other was thinking. How lucky were they to have found another friend this perfect? Somehow, she filled a void that neither one of them had even knew existed.

"Somehow, someway we have got to get all the guys back together. This has gone on way too long. Phil misses Ikey like crazy and I know Eddie does also, right Janet?" Pizza Girl said. "They just need a little nudge in the right direction."

"More like a giant heave" Hannah replied. "Everyone of them is about as easy to move as a brick wall"

"You're not lying about that" Janet agreed. "I have talked to Eddie about this until I am blue in the face and he's not having any of it. Maybe between all of us we can come up with something"

"I'll make a fresh pot of coffee and we can do some brainstorming. Ray is watching the game with some buddies today so I have all day. How about you guys?" Hannah asked.

"I'm not meeting Eddie until after the game, so I'm good" Janet said with a smile.

" Yeah…Oh there I go again. You two bring out the 'yeah' in me" Pizza Girl said while shaking her head.

Over a few pots of coffee and a few aspirin apiece they came up with a plan to reunite the guys. With a lot of luck it would work. Hopefully.

Janet took a deep breath before she walked into Phil and Eddie's house. The plan was simple in concept, but it all hinged on her being able to keep the truth from Eddie for a few more hours. Hannah had her end covered. She was in charge of getting Ikey to Sully's ahead of everyone else. Pizza Girl had already talked to Phil, so now it was all up to Janet. Janet had called Aubrey yesterday and she was going to be there with Nick All the pieces were in play with the exception of Eddie.

The guys were furiously going at it on the Wii. You never could tell who was winning because you couldn't hear yourself think over the racket. Janet took the opportunity to ogle Eddie while he wasn't looking. Engrossed in her thoughts, she didn't realize that they had stopped playing until she felt Eddie's eyes on her. _'This has to work', she thought to herself. 'Phil and Eddie are such great guys, they need their friend back. I'm so glad Hannah and I patched things up before it got too far_.' Giving herself a mental shake, she met Eddie's eyes as she went over to get a hug.

Things weren't exactly going as planned for Hannah. Ray was okay with everything, she was just having trouble getting Ikey to buy the whole thing. Ray had fed him a story about helping Hannah with an errand and Hannah had suggested a quick stop a Sully's for a beer. Something she was hoping that he wouldn't turn down.

"Ikey, would you please just trust me?" Hannah said with a little exasperation. "When have I ever steered you wrong? I really need you to come with me now. Please." It seemed like she had been having this conversation forever and she was starting to get a little frustrated.

"All right, but I still think you are up to something" Ikey replied with suspicion in his voice.

Without a reply, Hannah just gave him a shove towards the door and thanked God for small miracles. She just hoped Janet was having better luck than her.

Unfortunately, Janet wasn't having any better luck than Hannah. Eddie had his mind set on a quiet night with her. After some quick talking and a few quick escapes from his arms (that would not have helped the current cause, no matter how much she was enjoying it), she finally had him agreeing to go grab a drink with Nick and Aubrey.

Meanwhile, Phil and Pizza Girl were setting up his web-cam in the dinning room. Thankfully, Eddie was so used to them doing strange things that he hadn't questioned that one. With a wink at her co-conspirators and her fingers crossed, Janet ushered Eddie to the truck.

Making sure she walked in before Eddie, Janet quickly scanned the room to make sure Ikey wasn't in plain sight. Rooster gave her a thumbs-up to let her know that Ikey and Hannah were in the booth on the other side of the jukebox. Big sigh, the first part of the plan was pulling together nicely. Waving to Nick and Aubrey, they made their way to the table that Rooster had saved for them. Janet quickly slid onto her bar stool so that Eddie had to take the one were his back was to Ikey. Looking past Eddie, Janet saw Ikey's eyes get wide and Hannah grabbing his sleeve and keeping him in the booth. It was definitely time to get things started before this house of cards came tumbling down. Thankfully, Pizza Girl was right on time with the two laptops. She placed one in front of Ikey and the other on the table with the rest of them. Before he could say anything, Janet reached over and placed a finger on his lips with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Please Eddie, just do this for me. Be quiet and watch the screen."

For the next 10 minutes they watched a video that Phil and Pizza Girl had spent the last week working on. It was filled with pictures of all the guys, and Hannah. It was every single picture that they could dig up, dating all the way back to that day on the playground when Ikey became Ikey. After a few minutes, Eddie settled down and was watching with interest. Looking over his shoulder again, she saw that Ikey was also. Looking towards the bar, she thought she would fall off of her barstool when she saw Owen standing there with tears rolling down his face. Looking over at Nick, she saw that he had seen Owen also. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. It was too late to stop now, Owen would just have to be here too.

"What's all this? What goes on? Did I miss something?" Owen asked.

Hannah took that as her cue and pulled a reluctant Ikey over to the table.

"We have had enough. You guys need to work this out. No matter what happens, you guys go too far back to let it go without a fight."

On the computer screen the video was finished and Phil came on courtesy of Sully's Wi-Fi connection.

"Eddie, Owen please sit down a talk all of this out. It's really important to me and all of the women in our lives. I know you guys better than I know myself sometimes and I know that this is hurting all of us. Ikey did a bad thing, but how much longer should he suffer? Please. Nick is back, were all finally in the same place again, let's not waste this."

Nick could see that Owen was thinking hard so he decided to appeal to Eddie first.

"You forgave me. Can't you find it in there somewhere to forgive Ikey? Just let it all go?"

Eddie slowly nodded and looked over at Janet. "I think that it's time to find some forgiveness. I think that I can do that. I need to do that. 'O', you have to do what's right for you, somebody once told me that the best way around a disappointment is forgiveness."

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Owen gave Ikey a long look. Everyone held their breath waiting for him to speak.

"I hear what you're all saying. I do want to find my way back to my friend, but it's not going to be easy. I'm going to need a lot of help."

Walking around the table, he held out a hand to Ikey. Everyone let out a cheer as the two friends shook hands. It was a start. It would definitely be uncomfortable for awhile but everything would even out with time.

Owen went around the table and gave each of the women a kiss on the cheek and sent a salute to Phil. Janet got up to give Owen her seat and went to lean against Eddie, Rooster brought chairs for Hannah and Ikey and everyone settled in to watch that video again.

Walking by, Rooster leaned in to whisper to Janet.

"Aren't you glad I called Owen?"


End file.
